Although Louisville has already matched its win total from a season ago, coach Kenny Payne believes his team hasn’t even come close to reaching its full potential.
The Cardinals will attempt to continue their revenge tour on Sunday afternoon when they face Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
Louisville (4-3) went 4-28 in 2022-23, opening the campaign with a nine-game losing streak that included a 67-66 loss to Bellarmine. The Cardinals got back at the Knights on Wednesday, though, beating them 73-68 behind 21 points from Skyy Clark.
Payne has been pleased with Louisville’s ability to bounce back from one of the worst seasons in program history, but he realizes there’s still plenty of work to be done.
“I hope that people understand that a year ago was very hard for all of us, and you can see that we’re a better team and we’re not even close to as good as we can be,” Payne said. “We’ve got a lot of growing up to do, but we have the ingredients to be a pretty decent team.”
Like Bellarmine, the Hokies (5-3) had success against the Cardinals last season, picking up a 71-54 win on Feb. 28.
However, Virginia Tech currently finds itself on a two-game skid after falling 74-57 to Auburn on Wednesday. Hunter Cattoor finished with 16 points and six rebounds and was the only Hokies player to score in double figures.
One of the culprits of Virginia Tech’s losing streak has been Sean Pedulla, who has gone just 5-for-25 (20 percent) from the field over the past two games. Pedulla missed all nine shots he took on Wednesday.
“He’s struggling,” Hokies coach Mike Young said. “We all go through tough spells as players. … We need the best of Sean Pedulla.”
Pedulla is averaging 14.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists this season.
Sunday marks the 47th all-time meeting between the teams. Virginia Tech has earned back-to-back wins over Louisville after dropping 17 straight games against the Cardinals, who lead the series 36-10.
–Field Level Media